Diet Tips from Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn’s son, Sean, authored a lovely and loving memoir about his mother. There are no scandals, no beatings, no abuse. Hepburn was a genuinely good woman who valued family above career. In this brief passage, Sean discusses his mother’s famously trim figure.

My mother didn’t snack, but when she had a dessert, it had to be sweet. She loved a scoop of vanilla ice cream with maple syrup dribbled over it. After her afternoon nap, which she had learned to take because of the early calls and long hours of film production, she would often have a piece of chocolate—one piece! She said that chocolate chased away the blues.

Here is another secret: my mother really wasn’t so thin. She used to refer to herself as “fake thin.” Her upper body, especially her thoracic cage, was thinner than average, thus her thin waist. The early whooping-cough incident, combined with malnutrition during the war, led to asthma in her youth, and she had somewhat weak lungs throughout her life. She smoked—like most dancers and just about everybody else at the time—and was told throughout her life that she might be in the early stages of emphysema. Her ballet training also played an important role in the development of her physique. Although her upper body was slight, her arms and her legs were athletic and she was well proportioned overall.

So if you want to be in good shape, it’s pretty simple: Grow up during the war, suffer famine in your early life, exercise every day, and later in life eat reasonable amounts of everything and feel good about it. What this really means is that if we don’t feed too many fats or sugar to our children, they will have an easier time of it later in life.

Comment Rules

Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.

No profanity.

No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism.

Jackie – you are far from alone. My weakness is dark chocolate – especially dark chocolate.
Nirvana for me was years ago – on leave in the Army – finding a chocolate vending machine in the Zurich main train station – and trying different kinds until I was almost sick.
Which brings to mind Clint Eastwood’s **other** famous quotation in Dirty Harry:
“It’s good that a man know his limitations”.

This is really lovely.
My only (totally neurotic of me to even say it) comment is that not everyone is capable of eating sweets in moderation. Sugar creates a phenomenon of craving a la alcohol for alcoholics. I say this only because a lot of people berate themselves for not being able to have just one square of chocolate or one scoop of ice cream, when the truth is their body wasn’t built to allow them this. Luckily not everyone is so afflicted!

In addition to the dietary advice, several things from that book really stayed with me, Robert.
Her father, deciding that for safety moving the family to Holland once Britain declared war on Germany (and having the Nazis invade a short time later). Her memory of seeing friends in Holland put onto railroad cars, never to be seen again.
Eating turnips to survive….and her permanent estrangement from her father. The one
section, where she attempts reconciliation with her father in Dublin in the late 60s, and realized there was nothing there for her.
I enjoyed reading about her friendship with Hubert De Givenchy, his creations made her unforgettable and a fashion icon.
And how they met – she wanted her own “look” for the movies – Robert – with all the knowledge you have given us with the Hollywood designers – can you think of any other actress who was allowed to pick her own fashion designs outside of the studio? –
Anyway she was looking for some outfits for Sabrina and phoned Hubert’s office for an appointment.
On the appointed morning she went in and Givenchy, thinking that “Miss Hepburn” was the “other” Hepburn (Katheryn), told the young lady that he had an appointment but she was welcomed to look through the rack of last year’s fashions.
Which Audrey, humble spirit that she was, did without comment or “do you know who I am?” drama.
They laughed about it later, and were lifelong friends.
It was years later, when Audrey was diagnosed with terminal cancer, that Hubert arranged with a wealthy client to fly her home to Switzerland in a Gulfstream jet.
You are right – it wasn’t a “tell all” – just a book written by her son as a loving tribute to his mother.
One other thing – I believe that she will be known as much for her humanitarian work through the UN as her screen career – her heartbreak over the suffering of children – brought about by her own childhood in Holland…
She was an elegant spirit.

How I Married Karen

The new bookby Robert J. Avrech

Available in All Major Book Stores

Adobe Digital Edition's version is available through the Lulu store!

About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California

I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.

Subscribe to Seraphic Press via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.